THE CONVICT’S STORY
WITH grimy, sweating face and bloodstained hands and coat, Herbert Carpenter dashed into the home of Mayor Cruikshank. He thrust a servant aside and plunged into a room where he heard the sound of voices.
He stopped short as he faced a group of solemn men, gathered around a long table. He was facing Mayor Cruikshank and the members of the Public Safety Committee. Beyond them, he saw the hulk of Police Chief George Yates.
“What is this!” exclaimed Cruikshank. “Who are you?”
Carpenter drew a deep breath.
“My name is Carpenter,” he declared. “Herbert Carpenter.”
“The escaped convict!” The cry came from Yates. “The fellow that was sent up!”
Swinging past the other men, the police chief grasped the unexpected visitor. He saw the bloodstains on Carpenter’s clothes. He drew a revolver to cover this dangerous criminal. Carpenter offered no resistance.
“Let me speak!” he pleaded. “Let me speak! It is important!”
Something in his wild tone won his request. With Chief Yates on guard, the other men had forgotten their apprehension. Carpenter looked from face to face. He caught the dignified eye of Mayor Cruikshank. It was to him that he addressed himself.
“I broke jail” — his admission came in puffing gasps — “to come back here. I came — to get the crooks who had double-crossed me.
“They were working — working two jobs tonight. I–I broke in on the first, I got one of them — Hooks Borglund. He was trying to kidnap Lois Grantham, the heiress.”
Sharp, startled responses greeted this revelation. Mayor Cruikshank interrupted.
“Where did this take place?” he questioned.
“At the Hotel Pavilion,” responded Carpenter. “The police are there, now. I called them. I had to get away.”
“I suppose you did,” growled Yates, tightening his hold on his gun. “A fine story, this—”
“Hear the man,” interrupted Cruikshank sharply. “Tell us, Carpenter, why have you come here?”
“On your account,” responded Carpenter. “You are in danger, Mayor Cruikshank. They are after you—”
The mayor raised his hand. The telephone was ringing. Cruikshank lifted the receiver.
“Chief Yates?” he questioned. “He is here, but busy. This is Mayor Cruikshank. Yes… Speak to me, then… At the Hotel Pavilion? Yes, I shall tell Chief Yates… All under control, you say? Good.”
He hung up the receiver. He looked about the room and spoke quietly to the tense men who seemed to question him.
“The police have captured a dozen gangsters,” he declared. “They were trying to kidnap the girl, as Carpenter has said. Some of them were shot. Evidently, Carpenter’s story is correct.”
“I had better be getting down to the hotel,” interrupted Graham Hurley, the proprietor of the Pavilion.
“Not yet,” declared Cruikshank quietly. “You belong here with the committee. We will hear this out.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Carpenter, realizing that his story would be heard. “I’ll tell you what else is going on. There were five of us in the racket. Shifter Reeves handled the dope. I did the blackmail. Big Tom Bagshawe was running the gambling—”
Bursts of surprise came from the men about the table. Police Chief Yates looked grim. He glared at the members of the committee.
“There were two others,” continued Carpenter. “Hooks Borglund and Wheels Bryant. Hooks was the one I stopped tonight. You can get Shifter and Big Tom easy. But Wheels — I don’t know what he looks like. I only know he’s coming here tonight — unless he’s scared away.”
“Coming here?” echoed Cruikshank, in an amazed tone.
“Here,” repeated Carpenter. “Here, to kidnap you!”
SOME faces showed surprise; others denoted doubt. Carpenter stared around the circle; then looked at Police Chief Yates. He saw that the bluff officer was one of the doubters. He delivered a thrust that he felt sure would win Yates.
“Wheels Bryant,” said Carpenter slowly. “He’s the big shot. I took the rap on his account. I broke jail to get even; to spoil his double-crossing game.
“I don’t know who he is; but I’ll tell you how he works. He’s on the inside, here in Seaview City. He’s the fixer. He gives the tip-offs. That’s why Big Tom got away with things so long. Wheels Bryant pulls the strings.”
“You mean” — Cruikshank’s voice was severe — “you mean that this man you call Wheels Bryant has subsidized the forces of the law—”
“No,” retorted Carpenter, “but he’s got a drag somewhere. Somebody is double-crossing you people — keeping Wheels wise—”
“I understand.” Cruikshank’s voice was calculating. The mayor looked at Yates. The police chief nodded in understanding.
“Some one — here — ” Cruikshank turned to study the men before him. He looked coldly at Louis Helwig, the promoter; then he gazed at Raymond Coates, the real-estate man. Finally, he glanced toward Graham Hurley.
“Tonight,” resumed Cruikshank, “Police Chief Yates offered his resignation. Why? Because he felt that members of this committee were attempting to obstruct his plans. I refused that resignation. Why? Because I believed that Chief Yates was right.
“There are three men here who wanted a new police chief. They — all along — have objected to all that Yates has said and done. They have interests in Seaview City. Those interests involve a popular night club and a new hotel. In both those places, crime has occurred.
“I am making no accusations. I am simply considering — wondering why these men should feel the way they do. I am upon the verge of understanding. Sometimes, those who have no contempt of crooks have criminal leanings of their own.”
With this scathing denunciation, Cruikshank paused. The men whom he had indirectly accused were fuming, but they held their silence, while the mayor turned deliberately to Herbert Carpenter.
“Go on,” said Cruikshank. “This plot against me—”
“Tonight, after ten,” blurted Carpenter. “When you are alone. Wheels Bryant is coming here, to get you. Hooks Borglund was stealing the girl. It was Bryant’s job to take you along. Shifter Reeves was to arrange the getaway—”
“I see,” interrupted Cruikshank. “A double kidnapping — with a ransom, I suppose. Well, we can provide against it. But what concerns me is the treachery that caused it. Who is this Wheels Bryant?”
“I don’t know. I never saw him.”
“But you worked for him?”
“Yes — always in the dark—”
Louis Helwig was on his feet.
“Your honor,” he interrupted, “this questioning is a job for Chief Yates — not for us. This is ridiculous — these veiled accusations — a man called Wheels Bryant, who is never seen, even by the man who claims to have worked with him—”
“Helwig is right!” shouted Raymond Coates. “This man Carpenter is an escaped convict. He’s trying to get out of a jam. Look at him — his coat stained with blood—”
“Take him away,” cried Graham Hurley. “Then we can talk among ourselves, without a lot of dirty accusations, caused by a crook’s phony yarn with no—”
Dissenting murmurs followed. Some favored Rufus Cruikshank, in his carefully toned challenge of the three men who had slowed the law in Seaview City. Others felt that the mayor had been too scathing in his criticism.
The murmurs rose to angry shouts. Rufus Cruikshank rapped upon the table. Only Chief Yates, calm-faced and stem, remained neutral, with his hand on Herbert Carpenter’s shoulder.
“Only a convict’s story!” shouted Louis Helwig. “A convict’s story—”
His cry ended abruptly at the sound of an unexpected voice. A chilling silence swept over the wrangling group. They were listening to the commanding tones of a voice that they had heard months before.
The voice of The Shadow!